Head to New York's Hudson Valley on January 13th for the Second Annual Farm Film Fest. The event is free, but attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable item for the Chatham Silent Food Pantry. Farm Film Fest is sponsored by the Chatham Agricultural Partnership, the Chatham Film Club, and the Columbia Land Conservancy. Last year almost 400 people braved a sleet storm to attend!

The program features four short films made by local farmers and filmmakers as well as American Harvest, an award winning documentary feature that explores the complex issue of immigrant workers and their place in the American food system.

About 10 years ago, the FDA attempted to create a rule that would ban all raw milk cheeses regardless of whether they'd been made under strictly sanitary conditions and aged over 60 days. A group called the "Cheese of Choice" coalition successfully lobbied to keep the rules the way they were, appealing to the general public's fear that they might lose their beloved Parmigiano Reggianos and Roqueforts. However, the rule is again up for consideration this year, and again American cheesemakers are not taking things lightly.

Historic rainstorms sacked the Pacific Northwest last week, with devastating effects on dairies both large and small. Many were affected, but the Black Sheep Creamery in Adna, Washington, was hit particularly hard. According to the storm damage round-up over at the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project, they lost all but 23 of their sheep and their house and barn were flooded with 30 inches of water. In the coming days, the PNW Cheese Project will be posting about fundraising efforts that that are being launched to help those impacted by the storms. We will keep you posted here as well.

UPDATE: The Ethicurean has some more coverage of the storms' effects on farms in the Northwest, including a link to the Washington State Farm Bureau, which has started a flood relief fund.

It's old hat to see blogs by cheese mongers, or other dairy heads, but I have yet to see many blogs from cheese makers themselves. After all, making cheese is so time-consuming, what cheese maker in his or her right mind would choose to spend the little free time they had on blogging? Well there are a couple of new blogs to report on that signal perhaps a new trend, both are from cheese makers who are in the trenches working hard to make the cheeses you and I love to eat.

The first is from LittleFfarm Dairy, a start-up artisan goat cheese maker in South West Wales, UK. Their blog is a daily journal, tracking their progress as they start the business with a herd of pedigree British Toggenburg goats. I don't know how these folks have the time to raise goats, make cheese, AND blog, but I'm glad they do, because the blog really adds a personal dimension to their operation that you don't get with too many other dairies.

The Kosher Blog tells us about two new kosher-certified cheeses on the market, an exciting development in a category that has long been woefully slim. The first offering is an Organic cheddar from New Zealand-based Mainland Cheese. It's made with milk from grass-fed cows and features the OK kosher certification. The other is a group of raw milk cheeses from 5 Spoke Creamery, including Red Vine Colby, Redmond Cheddar, and Herbal Jack. The cheeses are made in Pennsylvania by Amish farmer Henry Lapp and certified kosher by Kof-K.

Next week the History Channel is showing an hour-long documentary on cheese as part of their Modern Marvels series. The episode, which premieres Wednesday June 27 at 10pm EDT, profiles cheesemaking technologies from ancient to modern, with particular attention to the wide variety of cheeses currently produced in Wisconsin and California.